


Extraterrestrial

by Femnewtmas



Category: The Maze Runner (Movies), The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types, The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: Alien AU, M/M, i'll add as this goes, minho highkey ships them, newt is an alien, not really tho, only newtmas, so much fucking denial, thomas is a precious soul, thomas is in denial, thomas x teresa kinda
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-15
Updated: 2016-10-21
Packaged: 2018-08-15 07:11:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8047138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Femnewtmas/pseuds/Femnewtmas
Summary: Thomas knew that people said love was out of this world. But he didn't expect it to be so literal, in his case.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Yayyy! New fic time! Updates should regularly be around every Friday, give or take a day. Requests are also still available to be taken on le tumblr, http://tomboy-tmr.tumblr.com and with that said, hope you enjoy!

Thomas hadn’t ever had his fair share of strange things happening to him. Being a barista with a good group of friends and a life that never exceeded or strayed from the routine, his life proved to be fairly boring. Yet that never caused him to be bitter or angry. Thomas was a generally happy person with the exception of a life stuck in the constant routine. But of course, all good things must come to an end, and that’s why in the span of a few minutes Thomas’s whole life was thrown into a complete upside down. 

It was a rainy Thursday afternoon, around six o’clock when Thomas left his house to go down onto the trails for his usual run. The rain kept most people from running, which is why Thomas loved to take advantage of the desolate tracks. Sprinting them was his favorite thing to do, but with lots of other bystanders walking around, it proved to be quite the task. 

The brunet was running around the trails, breathing heavily and only clad in sweatpants as he dashed through the woods, zigzagging around trees while sweat mixed with the raindrops coated his hair and neck. Thank god that Minho wasn’t with him as well, because he already felt on the verge of being sick with his insides burning and begging him to stop. 

Minho was one of his best friends, and a fellow coworker at his coffeeshop. He lived a rather exciting life, but of course it didn’t take much to have a more exciting life than Thomas. Minho was one of those typical party guys, spending a lot of his time at bars getting drunk or having one night stands. As sarcastic and outgoing as the asian could be, he was far from an asshole, as much as he sounded like it. The male had always been there for him when he needed it, especially during his only two breakups in his life.

But as Thomas made his way through the trails, being as talent at being clumsy as he was, his feet slipped from underneath him and his chin slammed into the ground. With a sigh and a small groan, Thomas fought the urge to roll over, knowing it would just get him even dirtier. The wet dirt was slick with rain, turning it into mud which coated most of his chin and chest as he weakly stood up with shaking arms. He sighed and tried to brush some of it off of him, knowing that this was just his luck to slip and fall while running the trails in the rain. He should’ve known better. But yet again, he inwardly thanked himself for not inviting Minho, having full knowledge that his friend would be laughing his ass off at him. 

Getting to his feet, Thomas finally looked up in front of him and almost slipped again at what he saw. A blond boy was shivering, arms wrapped around himself as he shivered head to toe, only wearing a black t-shirt and grey sweatpants. He stared at Thomas, the fear obvious on his face as he panted quietly, blinking the rain away from his dark lashes. This was weird, really, really weird. If it hadn’t been for his younger appearance, Thomas probably would’ve left the boy standing there in the rain.

Almost an hour later, Thomas was staring down at the blond boy who was sitting on Thomas’s guest bed wearing some of his clothes. Being that the blond boy was taller and skinnier, the clothes were sufficiently baggy on him, barely clinging onto his tiny frame. Even though an hour had passed, Thomas hadn’t even managed to get the blond to talk. Not that he seemed to speak or understand English anyways.

“Um, so I’m Thomas. But you can call me Tom, or Tommy, or whatever.” The brunet offered quietly while pointing at himself to try and see if the blonde boy would understand anything he just said. The blond boy cocked his head slightly to the side, furrowing his eyebrows together in slight confusing before licking his lips and attempting to speak with a strange accent.

“To-Tom..Tomm-ey?” He grumbled out, confused and looked up at Thomas as if asking him for clarification. When Thomas nodded slightly a small smile formed on his face and his features smoothed out. The blond shakily rose a finger and pointed to himself, biting at his lip a few times before he attempted to speak again while Thomas watched silently, waiting for him.

“N-Newt.” The blonde whispered in a heavily accented voice. It was a strange accent, unlike any he had ever heard before, and Thomas had no idea where on Earth it could possibly be from. It sounded so foreign, but yet wasn’t unpleasing to the ear. 

“Okay, Newt. Uh, where are you from?” Thomas asked gently and offered the blonde a smile which he returned, the words seeming to not effect him and go in one ear then out the other. Newt just silently stared up at him, waiting for something else to happen and seeming slightly bored before he turned to look around the room some more then play with his long sleeves. 

“Where are you from?” Thomas asked again before sitting down besides Newt, lightly poking him to get his attention and the blond’s eyebrows furrowed again as he seemed to concentrate. Newt bit his lip again, silently seeming to think over the words before he pointed at the ceiling. Confused, Thomas looked up but was only greeted by the plain white ceiling. Now thoroughly puzzled, he looked back over at Newt who nodded and seemed to expect him to understand. 

“Up there?” Thomas asked, confused as he raised an eyebrow at the smiling blond boy who nodded quietly before pointing up at the ceiling once again. When Newt seemed to realize Thomas was still confused, he bit his lip and the concentrating expression found its place back on his face. Again, the familiar silence took over as Newt tried to figure out how to say what he wanted to say.

“Sp-Spa….spa..ci? Y...yo...you...ca...call...eet?” Newt sounded out slowly, stumbling and pausing in front of a few of his words before looking up at Thomas for clarification once again. He smiled the most adorable little grin and waited patiently for the other to respond, resuming playing with his floppy sleeves. When Thomas seemed to work out what he thought Newt was trying to say, he felt his throat go slightly dry and felt his body tense slightly.

“Are you uh, are you trying to say you’re from space?” Thomas asked quietly, a look of doubt present on his face while his eyes focused onto Newt’s smiling face which was nodding back happily at him. Thomas felt his stomach almost fall out of his chest as his heart raced and beat heavily in his chest, almost jumping out through his neck. This couldn’t be real. This had to be some sort of joke. It was some kid who just bumped his head maybe running the trail as well and lost his memory. But the fear that Thomas had seen in his eyes, the confusion and inability to understand this language, the way that this kid seemed to have no boundaries made it clear, if he actually was from this planet, the country he came from seemed to have a very, very strange way. Aliens didn’t exist though, right?

“To-mmy…” Newt mumbled and stared at Thomas. Strange, he was very peculiar indeed. This really did support what Newt had said, but he couldn’t help himself from thinking so, for some reason, he just had a feeling, a hunch or an urge at that. Newt was not from here. Most likely though, he was just some runaway kid either playing dumb or had actually hit his head hard enough to lose most of his memory. 

It had taken Thomas at least a few good long hours to teach Newt some English, and he didn’t even teach him much before the realization dawned on him that he had the early shift tomorrow. He hadn’t ever needed to skip a shift, and didn’t exactly plan on doing it now. So he just carefully led Newt to the guest room, saying goodnight to him before heading to his room and completely passing out once his head hit the pillow. It had been an excruciatingly long day. 

***

Thomas yawned and lightly turned over, his hand hitting something warm and soft. What the hell was that? Maybe just his phone? Thomas frowned slightly, blinking away the sleepiness from his eyes before he yelped and almost fell out of the bed. There lay Newt sprawled out over his grey covers, snuggled into them with his golden blonde hair all disheveled over the white pillows. So it hadn’t actually all been a dream. But Thomas felt himself be slightly relieved by that for some reason. Maybe just because it gave him something exciting in his life? A sense of newfound adventure and a hidden secret that only he knew. Yet Thomas forced himself to stop thinking like that, needing to go get prepared for work as he slipped silently from the bed, trying his best not to disturb the blond. 

But of course, along with his natural clumsiness, Thomas ended up waking Newt up. The blonde yawned gently and stretched out like a cat before looking up at Thomas with a cute, sleepy smile. Yet when he seemed to notice Thomas gathering all of his things in a hurry, his smile slowly fell and curved into a frown. 

“Wha-Where...goin’, Tom-Tommy?” Newt asked as he slowly sat up, holding the covers close to his chest with his eyes half lidded as he blinked and tried to shield his eyes from the light. The blond stared at Thomas, waiting for an answer as he started to get out of the bed to go after him, pushing away the covers as he stood up shakily before grabbing the side of the bed for support.

Gently, Thomas took his hand and sat Newt back onto the bed as carefully as he could. “I’m just going to work for a few hours, alright? You just uh stay here, okay? I’ll be back later. But if there’s an emergency and you really need me, just come find me. I’ll only be down the street in the big green building. Can you remember that?” The brunet asked, talking slightly faster than normal as he threw his phone and wallet into his bag, slinging it across his shoulder before looking back over at Newt with a small smile.

Newt nodded slowly, processing the words. “Gr-Green?” He asked after a moment, looking at Thomas while slightly unsure of what he meant. The brunet simply pointed to his shirt and nodded. Understanding what he meant then, Newt smiled again and stood up to follow Thomas to the door. Thomas blabbed the whole time, telling him just to find something if he got hungry, turning on the TV for Newt to watch, and stressing that if anything happened at all that he would only be down the street in the big green building. 

It was pretty boring being in the flat by himself. After a few hours, Newt had gone through most of the food and discovered he didn’t like any of it. Except for this wonderful thing called chocolate, Thomas didn’t have much of it, so the blond didn’t want to eat all of it, but it tasted wonderful! He had only been entertained by the thing called the TV for a few hours, flicking through the channels until he found one that talked about space. But after seeing that these Earthlings called him an ‘alien’ and pictured him with a big round gray face and huge black eyes, Newt was so furious he had to switch channels. He soon found another one of two guys walking around holding hands, then became quite intrigued by it. 

Even though he couldn’t exactly understand what was going on, Newt continued to watch and his eyebrows furrowed slightly when he saw both of the guys lean in to touch lips. What were they doing? What was that? They did that for a moment, before they both pulled away and smiled, then hugged. By now, Newt found himself horribly confused as the program launched into some long explanation about these things called relationships, how those two men were something called ‘boyfriends’ and what they had just done was called a ‘kiss.’ Human terminology was strange for sure, but for some reason, Newt found himself wanting somebody to do that with as well, it looked fun! 

After some more time passed, Newt found himself leaving the flat and walking down the street. Nothing could entertain him for much longer, even though he had explored the whole entire apartment again and even changed into another pair of Thomas’s clothes. The blond had lay down on Thomas’s bed, trying to go back to sleep again. Although after some time, he found himself unable to sleep, the bed smelling too strongly of Thomas’s scent that it made Newt want to see him again. So there he was, walking down the street in Thomas’s baggy jeans, black tshirt and one of Thomas’s grey coats. 

It was easy enough to find the building that Thomas had described to him. It was fairly large and matched the color of his shirt. So Newt slowly walked inside, his hands stuck in his coat pocket as he hummed to himself and looked around for Thomas. Seeing Thomas behind the counter, talking to another boy with jet black hair. Newt’s smile faltered slightly and he was confused. Who was that? He thought Tommy was only friends with him? Or boyfriends, whatever they called it on Earth. But now that he thought about it, Thomas probably did have a life before he had met Newt. Why was he so surprised?

“Tommy!” Newt called from across the counter, smiling when Thomas looked at him and his facial expression completely dropped. Why was Tommy so mad to see him? The other boy beside Thomas smiled back at him, which made the blond feel somewhat better. But still, Newt was confused. Was Thomas mad that he had came? He said only to come if it was an emergency, which it was! Newt missed Thomas! 

The brunet dashed around the counter and was at Newt’s side in a few mere seconds, grabbing his shoulders. “Wha-What happened? Are you alright?” He asked worriedly, looking into Newt’s eyes with a fearful expression and pondering the possibilities of what could’ve gone wrong. What if the house burnt down? What if the sink overflowed? God, he didn’t have enough money at the moment to afford to fix something like that and still pay his rent on time!

“I-I’m okay?” Newt asked, confused as he innocently blinked back at Thomas. Why was he freaking out? The blond had only wanted to visit him because he missed him so much! Wasn’t that an emergency. “You-You said em-emergency?” 

“Yeah.” Thomas agreed with the nod of his head, thoughts still racing his mind about all the possible things that could’ve gone wrong while he left Newt in the flat. God, he was such a damn idiot to do that! Never again. Next time he would be more cautious and actually have a smart enough approach to spend the day with Newt and make sure he didn’t get into any trouble! Wait, what the hell was he thinking about ‘next time’? This kid couldn’t stay forever! Why hadn’t he even thought about this sooner?! Maybe the realization hadn’t fully dawned on him until now. Newt didn’t seem capable of even handling himself alone, and Thomas couldn’t afford to have him around forever unless the blond got a job! But that was something to worry about later. “What happened?” 

“I missed you.” Newt said dumbly, obviously very confused at this point as he felt Thomas’s tight grip go slack from around his shoulders as he heard a laugh burst out from behind the counter.


	2. Chapter 2

Minho watched the two of them from behind the counter intently, his chin resting on his hand while he sniggered. Honestly, the questions that he initially thought were pushed further away into his mind, too busy laughing at the scene that pieced itself so perfectly together in front of him, like a puzzle might. 

Thomas blinked. Once. Twice. Before he let out a breath that hadn’t even noticed he was holding in. His grip around Newt’s shoulders loosened until his hands completely dropped back down to his sides. Of course nothing had happened. He was just overreacting again per usual, thinking that something in his boring life had actually changed for once. Yet, Newt was the most exciting thing to happen to him in at least two years. But at the same time, he was just some lost, hurt boy who would be on his way out of Thomas’s life soon enough. Not that Thomas felt compelled to make him leave, quite the contrary actually. He felt himself compelled to the blond stranger, wanting to help him through whatever had happened for him to come stumbling into Thomas’s boring life. At the same time, all good things must come to an end, right? So, Thomas tried to control his emotions and keep himself from getting too close to Newt. He was going to leave, just like everyone else did. 

Newt’s lips curled into a deep pout as he stared at Thomas’s blank expression. Was he mad? But he had stated to come get him if there was an emergency! Was this not considered enough of an issue to come get him? Did Thomas just find him to be an annoyance? Newt could feel his stomach start to lurch as new thoughts exploded in his brain, barely taking a second to make him feel frozen to the core. What if Thomas hated him? Oh no, please no. Newt found himself praying to anyone, anything, that Thomas didn’t completely hate him. Where would he go if Thomas hated him? He couldn’t go back home! Thomas was now his only home...

“T-Tommy?” Newt mumbled out quietly and tried to get the other to look into his dark eyes. He had really messed up! Thomas had specifically told him that he was busy, and not to bother him unless there was a big problem, like a fire (even though Newt didn’t exactly know what that was…) He really couldn’t have Thomas being mad at him, especially because his newfound boyfriend (or was it friend they called it? He couldn’t recall) had entrusted him all alone in the confines of his house! He had trusted Newt with all his things, his flat, everything that he owned, and had Newt betrayed that trust by leaving? 

Thomas slowly raised his head to look up at Newt with slightly tired eyes before he remembered Minho staring at them from behind the counter. He could feel his cheeks burning just thinking about all of this drama being seen by not only his best friend that would tease him for the rest of his miserable life about it, but all the other baristas and customers as well! He bit his lip out of nervous habit, wondering what he should do next. Thomas could take the confident route and clock out early, playing it off like it never happened, or he could just have Newt wait here until his shift was over. But when he looked down into the blond’s dark brown hues, he decided with the first option. Newt was clearly shaken from the whole event, and the best option was to just clock out. So Thomas slowly turned to face Minho, who was still staring at them with a smirk on his damn perfect face. 

“I have to...er... deal with...this. I’ll see you tomorrow?” Thomas asked, awkwardly gesturing to Newt as he spoke hesitantly. Minho was still giggling, but not as much after realizing the situation was more serious than he had initially thought. Minho simply nodded at him and Thomas silently clocked out before he started the journey home with Newt trailing not too far behind. The tense silence was deafening, and honestly all Thomas wanted to do at this point was get home so he could take a long, well-deserved nap. He could feel a pang of guilt in his chest, it being quite obvious that Newt was distressed, confused, and upset by the whole situation. At the same time, he couldn’t exactly have known any better, could he? Once they had stepped outside of the small store, into a more private area. Newt had started walking next to Thomas, who decided to begin the interrogation, since it was now or never. 

“Newt, what did I say when I left this morning?” Thomas asked, with a serious tone lacing his voice. The blond seemed a bit caught off guard by such a foreign tone in the normally cheery brunet’s voice, and his frown instantly morphed into an open, agape mouth. It wouldn’t take a genius to be able to tell that Newt didn’t understand a single thing that was happening. Yet, Thomas decided that he did want to know Newt’s thought process nevertheless. Just incase this happened again at some point during Newt’s stay, Thomas would find himself capable of handling it, which would be a great asset. 

“W-what do you mean? You said to g-go if emergency! So I-I did?” Newt responded with his broken accent, his words faltering slightly and his eyes reflecting clear hurt. The blond had known that Thomas was upset with him for being such an annoyance. But he couldn’t help it! Being left in a room all alone for hours on end and expected to keep himself entertained like some sort of caged animal, wasn’t a way to live. He wasn’t completely helpless, and found himself yet again offended. Were humans always this mean foreigners? But at the same time, Thomas didn’t exactly treat him like a foreigner. The brunet never called him names or even mentioned it at all actually. Peculiar. Newt found himself utterly unable to wrap his head around the idea. 

Thomas frowned and looked down to the floor, not wanting to see the sight of Newt that made his heart ache. “That’s not what I meant, okay? I-I meant if something bad happened to you or just in general!” He tried to tell Newt rather sternly, as if he was giving a child a lecture, saying the words sharply and harshly. But his voice softened halfway through as he noticed Newt’s fists clenching and unclenching. Finding himself praying to anything, even if he didn’t believe in a god, Thomas bit his lip and just hoped with all of his heart as well as his soul that Newt was not crying. For fucks sake, that was the one thing he wouldn’t be able to do was comfort another being. It was no mystery that Thomas wasn’t the best at affection, being that both of his only girlfriends had left him when he refused to kiss them at all, wanting to save it for somebody he knew was legitimately the one. 

Tears were now slowly starting to fall from Newt’s dark eyes. “D-Does Tom-Tommy hate me?” He whispered quietly before the following silence was broken by a soft sniffle. Thomas felt the familiar pang of guilt hit his chest so forcefully he was barely able to contain himself from reaching out to hug Newt. But he kept his face straight, eyes boring into the floor and his teeth biting his lip so hard, that he would surely draw blood soon if he didn’t stop. Had he come off as too harsh? Did he really make Newt this upset? He didn’t want that to happen, he had just wanted Newt to understand the situation! To see what he had thought wasn’t the right process of thought! 

“N-no I-I don’t hate you, I’m just trying to teach you that there are limits to things. Coming to my workplace just to say that you’ve ‘missed me’ is not what an emergency is, alright?” Thomas informed him as gently as he could, acting as if he were talking to a three-year-old. Newt nodded with a small sniffle while his head hung to avoid seeing Thomas’s eyes, but Thomas wasn’t sure if he actually understood him or if he was just nodding because he knew that he was supposed to. Nevertheless, he finally began to notice a few passerby’s finding their little scene to be quite interesting. Thomas’s cheeks began to heat up and he sighed before just brushing them off as people with nothing better to do in their lives than to feed off of other people’s problems. They didn’t matter. What did matter was the kid standing in front of him. 

“Newt, hey. Don’t cry. Come here.” Thomas mumbled quietly and reached out to gently touch Newt’s shoulders again. The blond was warm to the touch, and slowly reached out to wrap his hands around Thomas’s torso. Such touches to his body caused warning signs to go off in Thomas’s head, paralyzing the brunet for a good moment before he managed to shake them off. He had only ever hugged his girlfriends before, and it was only a brief, maybe five second hug before they both awkwardly parted away. But with Newt, everything seemed to come much faster, easier and more naturally. Yet Thomas was also sure that Newt having no experience in moments like this could’ve been a contributing factor, even though he happened to be quite wrong indeed. 

With a small sniffle, Thomas felt Newt nuzzle into the crook of his neck gently. Alarms blared loudly in his head, and Thomas finally felt himself getting somewhat uncomfortable with the interaction. Even though he really wished that he could do more to comfort Newt, he had only actually known him for almost a day and a half. So there was no way he would be able to last much longer if he lead him on even further, the outcome would surely be a lot worse. As subtly as he could, Thomas leaned away from the touch until Newt finally let his hands go free, sliding back down to his sides before he turned away somewhat shamefully. 

After a long, silent walk to Thomas’s flat, Newt waited awkwardly in his kitchen when he noticed that Thomas had vanished into his room. He didn’t want to annoy the brunet any more than he already had, but again the whole reasoning behind him going to find Thomas at work, and the whole core behind the drama was because he wanted to be around Thomas, not by himself anymore. So, contrary to what he desired, Newt found himself walking towards Thomas’s room slowly before he opened the door as gently as he could, a loud creak sounding and causing Newt to whine. Thomas looked up slowly, meeting Newt’s eyes and sighing quietly before he nodded and motioned for Newt to come closer. Feeling his heart flutter in his chest, the blond smiled fondly and childishly hurried over towards the bed to curl up besides Thomas. When Thomas was in a good mood, he really was very nice indeed! Despite his urges to try to grab Thomas, to cuddle close and bury his face in his chest, Newt held himself back from that, not wanting Thomas to get mad again. It was noticeable how the brunet tensed when receiving any form of affection. Yet, that didn’t stop Newt from finding himself just wanting to hold Thomas close to his chest, to have their arms around each other, and to perform the thing known as a ‘kiss’. 

Thomas stared at Newt as he climbed into the bed rather clumsily, a smile finding its way onto his face as he watched the blond stumble about. He felt his heart race when the blond curled up gently beside him, his disheveled golden blond hair spreading out around the blankets as deep brown eyes found his own. They were smart, piercing, and radiated all around warmth, despite the total darkness. The brunet felt an unimaginable heat flood his chest, and his cheeks begin to tint with a blush. The thought of what these feelings could actually mean crossed his mind and made him completely freeze, as if somebody had doused him in ice water. Every single inch of him was completely paralyzed, disbelief completely filling his heart. No, no way he was thinking of Newt in that way. In a romantic way. 

The blond smiled happily and stared back at Thomas’s face lovingly, blinking slowly before biting his lip. Did humans always feel like this when they were around another person? The rush of adrenaline pumping through their bodies, blood hammering hard in their ears, and the thumping of their heart when they gazed upon somebody who withheld such an attractive features as well as such a large heart? What was this feeling? Even though Newt didn’t know what it was, it was the most wonderful thing he had ever felt. As if he could just stare at Thomas’s handsome face for hours on end, as if he could listen to him talk for days, as if he could spend years at his side and never once regret any decision that he had made, especially if it revolved around Thomas. 

With a slow gulp, Thomas bit his lip and his breath hitched nervously in his throat. No, this couldn’t possibly be right. His mind had to be playing tricks on him. He wasn’t gay, right? No. No, he couldn’t be. Before he had met Newt, he had dated two other girls, Teresa and Brenda. So he couldn’t be gay, even if he had never had this feeling around either of them before. Even if he had never kissed them, or had sex with them before. He was straight, he had to be. Thomas hadn’t ever thought of boys that way before, he liked girls. He had liked girls for twenty two years now, so there couldn’t possibly be a way in fucking hell that he was in love with this blond. Thomas simply refused to believe it. No matter how special, loved, appreciated, and simply adored Newt made Thomas’s feel, he couldn’t believe that. What would his family think? What about his friends? No, no. It couldn’t be true, and Thomas found himself denying it with every fiber of his being down to the fucking cell. He would deny it to his fucking grave, because there was simply no way.

Suddenly, the blond reached forwards to gently stroke Thomas’s cheek, causing the male to shiver at the gentle touch. It was different than what he was used to, more strong, but at the same time it was as soft as a feather grazing his cheek. When Thomas didn’t deny the act of affection, Newt leaned forwards slowly while studying the brunet’s expression for any changes. But when he didn’t see any noticeable ones, Newt leaned even closer before his eyes gently fluttered shut. His hands moved up to grasp the brunet’s shoulders, one stealthily moving up behind and snaking around Thomas’s slim neck. 

It barely even took Thomas seconds to process what was happening, his whole body freezing to the point where he felt like he had literally left his body, and was now spectating the scene from above the two of them, watching it play out. Heart pounding heavily in his ears and blocking every sound out, Thomas was finally able to forcefully push Newt away from himself. Everything was wrong, this was so utterly wrong, but yet at the same time it felt so damn right. So natural and simple to just let himself fall in love with this blond stranger. But of course, Thomas’s horribly stubborn personality just wouldn’t let that be. He would have been lying to himself for twenty two years if he accepted that. Nothing in his life had ever changed this rapidly before, and questioning his sexuality on top of already having to house a blond stranger. No, now that just simply could not and would never be possible.

The dead, uncomfortable silence that followed was quickly broken by the sound of the doorbell ringing. Which Thomas wasn’t sure was a blessing or a curse. Even though it did give him a chance to get out of this horribly awkward incident, at the same time, it could be Minho at the door. Knowing his personality, and how often he loved to tease Thomas about every little thing he did (Newt was no exception) he really wouldn’t be able to handle all of this at once which would most likely result in a breakdown that would cause him to lose both friends. 

Swiftly, with his heart beating fast and his clammy hands grabbing at the bed to propel himself upwards, Thomas slipped out of the bed to go answer the door, leaving Newt sitting in the room alone. The blond felt tears coming up to his eyes but desperately tried to wipe them away before Thomas returned and just became even more angry. The aching and utterly overwhelming amount of complete betrayal, hurt, and just pure anger overtook Newt. How could he even think that he had stood a chance with Thomas? Thomas was such a beautiful earthling with a heart of pure gold, and the most radiant beauty of anybody in the whole galaxy. He was the most beautiful person Newt had ever laid eyes on in the whole entire universe, so why would he (just an ‘alien’ a ‘space freak’) stand a chance with such pure beauty? How could he have been this naive? Why would he ever let himself be so completely and blindingly dumb? Just to be crushed by something he should have had a better sense to know. Even though he would give anything in the entire universe, the galaxy if he had to, just for Thomas to hold him in his arms again, he couldn’t force him to in the end. Nevertheless, he sadly followed Thomas with a broken heart, trailing behind the brunet like a lost puppy as he went to go answer the door.

Pulling the door open slowly and glancing out, Thomas seemed to pale at least four shades, his face flushed yet again, while he looked utterly speechless. The handsome, strong, intelligent boy had never looked more helpless than Newt had seen him look at this very moment. It simply made Newt’s heart do somersaults in his chest. Who could make him feel this way? It clearly wasn’t the one friend of Thomas’s he had met (Min, or something along those lines) because Thomas always appeared to be fully comfortable around him. So who was this person that was scaring Thomas so much? Who was this person that dared to come to his house, just to make him so afraid?

“Hey, Tom. Long time no see. Can I come in, baby?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ye, sorry for the cliffhanger here but I'm assuming all of you can guess who our new friend is!


	3. Chapter 3

Of course, Thomas had dealt with some fairly awkward situations before. Probably being named the king of creating them, with that all said. But in all seriousness, Thomas had never been in a situation as perplexing as this one. Here he was, with a boy who barely spoke English living in his house (who had just tried to fucking kiss him mind you!) and his ex girlfriend just so happens to show up, on today out of all fucking days! For fucks sake, could anything get much worse than this? 

Newt was peering over his shoulder, a small pout formed on his little puppy face that caused another large wave of guilt to engulf Thomas’s body whole. The brunet felt himself frozen again, completely and utterly overwhelmed to the point where he didn’t even think he could breathe without triggering something horrible. The girl at his door shifted from leaning on one hip to the other and crossed her arms over her chest, obviously seeming pretty pissed that Thomas didn’t respond to her calling. Which could be understandable without a doubt, save for the fact that she had cheated on him with another guy. A rich, exciting one with that. So how on Earth was Thomas supposed to compete with that? Right after finding out (except for the few mere hours he spent lying in his room and crying like a newborn) he ended their relationship.

Teresa decided to take action while Thomas continued to stand there as stiff as a board, his expression blank as she stalked towards him, all the while Newt still standing behind him with a scared expression on his pale face. His heart was beating out of his fucking chest at this point while his face once again dusted a bright shade of red, sweat starting to build on his forehead as he nervously watched Teresa come closer, swaying like the brilliant enchantress that she was. Yet, Thomas would never admit that to himself. Even though she was a completely toxic being. 

The blond crouching behind the taller was peering at Teresa nervously, sneaking small glances as if she was a ticking time bomb, waiting to be set off. He was completely confused, unsure what this girl had done or said to make Thomas so uncomfortable. The person he completely adored was melting like putty in front of her, and Newt had no idea how to fix or control it. More than anything, he just wanted it to stop. Newt wanted to yell at the top of his lungs for her to go away, to stop making Thomas scared, and that Tommy didn’t want her here! But all screaming at her would accomplish would just make Thomas mad at him, which would lead to the person that he adored so much lecturing him.

Finally fed up with the wait, Teresa pressed once again. “Who is that behind you? Your boyfriend?” She sneered, a scowl clear on her face as she tilted her head to the side, obviously yet again waiting for another response that she doubted that she was going to get. 

Despite her doubts that she was going to get a response from either of the two, Newt’s ears perked up at the familiar term. He nodded happily and shot the waiting girl a small smile. “Yes! Boyfriends!” Newt squealed as he grabbed Thomas’s arm excitedly and pulled it close to his warm chest, cuddling it. With a light giggle and the cutest smile plastered on Newt’s pretty face, he gently leaned his head on Thomas’s shoulder, the blond locks tumbling over the brunet’s blue shirt. Even though Newt still was not positive what the word ‘boyfriend’ meant, but he was positive that it was a term of great endearment. With that knowledge, he was completely fine with using it to refer to Thomas, since the brunet already knew his affection towards the himself.

Thomas almost felt his heart stop completely at that. His stomach almost dropped out of his chest, and he had to cease the urge to almost double over, drawing a quick breath. Teresa wrinkled her nose, seeming surprised that he actually answered her, and even more surprised that he agreed on top of all of that. But almost as quickly as Thomas had drawn a breath, he shook his head violently. The shock and total disbelief in his eyes was evident while he panicked, frantically racking his mind for any sort of excuse that he could come up with on the spot. 

“He-He’s my cousin from France.” Thomas sputtered and gave Teresa the most genuine, please-don’t-know-i’m-lying sort of smile. “Sorry, he doesn’t speak much English. So he thinks that means friends, as in boys who are friends.” Even though he genuinely had no feelings for Teresa anymore, and wanted to push them far, far away into the back of his mind so he could simply forget. Thomas found himself unable to shut the door on her like he had done so many times in the past. She could help him to get rid of these thoughts that plagued his brain. She could help him prove to himself that he was indeed straight. That he was just kidding himself with thinking that he actually had some goddamn romantic feelings for Newt. Despite not wanting to be with her anymore, maybe she could actually be of some use to him? To prove to himself that he had to be fucking straight, and then he could get on with just letting Newt go.

With a nod of understanding, and a small smirk, Teresa giggled as she stepped forwards to grab Thomas by the collar of his blue shirt, pulling him closer. Finding himself dumbstruck, Newt just watched with furrowed brows, his arms still holding Thomas’s own close to his chest. This girl was just like those succubi from Venus. The same smirk of a professional heartbreaker, the same suggestive actions, and most of all the same habit of being somewhere they didn’t belong. Instantly, Newt could tell he hated this girl, just by the way her presence made Thomas stiffen. 

As Teresa pressed for the two of them to go to dinner, Thomas just agreed, wanting her to go away as soon as possible. Which probably should’ve been a huge red flag not to go through with this whole thing in the first place. But yet, the brunet found himself being so stubborn that he just had to prove to himself he was straight, because he didn’t know how to cope with such a huge change. When her silhouette faded out into the dark nights sky, it only took seconds before Thomas silently retreated back into his bedroom and curled up in his bed with the speed of a stealthy wolf. 

It only took a few moments before the soft footsteps belonging to Newt followed him into the room, and the blond was curled up beside him within seconds. Dark eyes bore into his soul, analyzing every single inch of his face, awaiting anything that might come. Any indication of an emotion, as small as it may happen to be. When that was failed to be presented, Newt found himself leaning in closer once more, and this time Thomas did nothing to stop him. Warm lips found his own, hands wrapped around his neck, and a body gently pressed against his own. Everything felt so good, so right, so hopelessly perfect. Though, perfect things never last. Which lead to Thomas pulling away and blinking a few times, before Newt got the same feeling of deja vu when he felt hands gently pushing him farther apart.

“T-Tommy.” A whisper came soon after, Newt whining as he tried to move closer and close the distance between them yet again. Lightly, he forced himself onto Thomas’s lap, the brunet squirming and turning his face away to stare down at the wall sadly. No, he couldn’t do this. Perfect as it felt, it was far from it. For some reason, Thomas just couldn’t accept himself being happy, being content with another person and being in love. How would everybody react to him being gay? If he could barely even handle his feelings, how could he expect his family and his friends to take this? 

With a heavy heart, Thomas shook his head and thrust Newt off of his lap, the latter whimpering as a soft thud followed. Loud wince echoing around the room, the little blond rubbed the back of his head, having banged it off the bed-rest when he was sent tumbling backwards. Breath hitching in his throat, a whole new feeling of guilt completely ate him whole, and his heart ached so fucking hard. Throbbing in his chest, his heart begged for him to just grab Newt’s shoulders, to pull him into his lap and to kiss him senseless before whispering sweet nothings into his ears, begging for forgiveness. 

He barely even knew this kid. He only knew his name, the fact that he could barely talk, and the fact that he was alone in this world. Despite all that, Thomas found himself falling deeper and deeper in love with this abandoned little puppy every single day. But he just couldn’t bring himself to admit it, still too consumed with the same daily never-ending routine. Once he knew more, maybe it would be easier for him to admit to himself? For now though, he didn’t stop Newt from scampering out of the room, his sobs still being audible from the guest room.

* * *  
The next day at work had been a particularly long one, despite his hopes for less customers, it seemed that the world still wasn’t on his side just yet. Thomas was trapped in his own thoughts throughout the whole day, the guilt constantly eating away at him as he tried to keep on a friendly smile and do his job. What were his feelings for Newt? Why was he even going to dinner with Teresa (much less agreeing to see her again)? He was only going through with this because of his feelings for Newt. But were they even true feelings? Thomas was so invested in his thoughts, he completely didn’t notice how the coffee cup that he was filling had overflowed and spilled all over his hand. Thomas immediately dropped the cup, trying as hard as he could not to say every curse word he had ever heard throughout his entire life in one sentence. He quickly apologized to the middle-aged man angrily staring at him from behind the counter (who looked too upset about a fucking cup of coffee), arms crossed, and went for another cup to start again with an annoyed sigh. This time he was able to complete the man’s order of what seemed like the world’s hottest coffee and the man left, leaving no tip, which wasn’t a complete shocker. Yet, understandable, considering half of his original order was blistering Thomas’s skin. But by this point, he was too tired and pissed to even give a damn. All he wanted to do was just get home, eat, and collapse on his bed, to never get up ever again. Taking a nap right now sounded almost as good as eternal bliss. 

“Nice one, I’m pretty sure the sample cups are the size of your brain.” Minho teased, the usual smirk dancing on his lips. Of course he was mister fucking perfect, because Minho just had to be good at basically everything, and never seemed to have a worry with all that said. He was a charming businessman, good with the ladies of course because of that fucking flawless smile, and just the most down to earth, caring, smart guy when he needed to be. Which probably led to the reason that Thomas sometimes found himself jealous of such an all around hard to compete with friend.

“Shut up,” Thomas groaned back, rolling his eyes and sighing. Now that Shankbucks, the coffee shop that Thomas worked in, was empty, he could finally be done with this agonizingly long day. Thomas immediately went to go run his hand under cold water, hoping that it would relieve some of the pain but to no avail, it still hurt like a bitch (more than he was expecting, honestly.) Even though his hand stung, the pain had dulled down to a subtle throb, so Thomas was glad that the pain wasn’t as intense anymore. Thank god his shift was almost over and Teresa would be showing up very shortly to take him to dinner. Thomas had brought a change of clothes for the occasion in his work bag, and he planned to change as soon as his shift ended. So after a few deep breaths and moments of mental preparation, he walked back to his work station but found himself staring at the door, once again getting lost in his thoughts. Should he really be doing this? What is Newt going to think? How is Newt going to handle being alone tonight? Wait, he’s going to be alone TONIGHT! He doesn’t even know how to make food! He can’t even open a bag of chips without spilling them onto the floor! Thomas needed someone to watch him until the date was over and done with, but who? A grin forming on his lips, Thomas turned to his coworker who was using the sponge as a microphone as he did the dishes, and realized exactly who would be able to watch him, whether he agreed to it or not. “Hey, Minho!” Thomas called to his friend. Minho yelped and responded to this call by dropping the sponge on the floor, almost knocking over all of the dishes as well.

“WHAT? CAN’T YOU SEE I’M BUSY!” Minho whined, obviously not very busy. Placing the sponge down on the counter next to the cleaned dishes, he then grabbed the towel to begin drying all of them off with a pout on his lips. His back was turned to Thomas, but Thomas could tell that he knew what was coming and was just trying to postpone the inevitable.

“Could you do me a favor?” Thomas asked, smiling like he always does when it’s something he knows Minho won’t like. He walked a few steps closer and grabbed another spare towel off the rack, thinking that maybe if he helped Minho out with drying the dishes, it would help to win him over in the end. Silently awaiting a response, Thomas patiently wiped the dishes clean, setting each one that was dry on top of the others. 

“Oh boy, what is it?”

“Can you watch Newt tonight?”

“Watch him? What do you mean, like babysit a grown man?” Thomas wasn’t sure if man was the right word but he had no time to get into specifics, and wasn’t sure if he wanted to nonetheless. Hopefully though, Minho wouldn’t actually have planned anything better to do, like usual. 

“Just make sure he doesn’t do anything bad, okay?” Thomas mumbled, avoiding the question. 

“What if I say no?” Minho sassed back, which meant that he really didn’t have anything planned for tonight and Thomas was just counting his lucky stars. The warm feeling of relief hugged him and for even just a moment he could forget about all that pent up guilt as well as the dull ache from his blistered hand. Him having to go out with Teresa obviously wounded Newt, and Thomas would’ve felt like even more of a sinner if he had left Newt alone. Especially after what had happened last night. Work didn’t count, seeing as how Newt was used to him being gone during the daytime, but during the nighttime he expected Thomas to be there for him. Despite having all his reasonings add up to a reasonable excuse, the brunet still felt slightly ashamed of leaving Newt without other human communication all day long, sure he had the television, but clearly he grew tired of that. 

“Thanks Minho, I owe you one!” Thomas exclaimed happily, glancing at the clock and seeing that his shift had just ended, before running to the back room to get changed for his “date”. Minho was obviously bothered by the fact that Thomas never answered his question, but saw that there was no way out of this. Even though his friend wasn’t too happy with the idea of ‘babysitting’ (it wasn’t even babysitting technically, just making sure that Newt didn’t get into any trouble during the time that Thomas was gone), Minho owed him a few favors and Newt’s needs were his priority now. His date wouldn’t be something he was actually looking forward to, much less wanting to go to, but his denial kept him in check without question.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Newt omg, I hope you enjoyed nevertheless!


	4. Chapter 4

“Uh, can I come in?” The man asked with a rather bored expression on his face, rolling his eyes slightly and seeming almost angry he had to ask to be allowed into the flat. How odd. Even though Newt was confused on whether he was mad or just kidding with him (as Thomas said he did sometimes, but Newt was still grasping the meaning of that) Newt nodded and stepped aside to let him in. “So, the name’s Minho, and you must be Newt?” He asked, talking rather quickly while walking around the kitchen as if he lived here, which Newt again found completely odd. How did he know his way around Tommy’s apartment so well? Even he still struggled figuring out where the bedroom was! Newt didn’t know why this guy was here instead of Thomas, or why he even knew his name, but he figured it had something to do with Thomas. Thomas probably told him to come over so they could “hang out”, whatever that means.

“Yes, I’m Newt,” Newt confirmed and smiled, ignoring the fact that he was still a bit confused. All his questions still unanswered which made him slightly nervous, since he had been told not to talk to strangers. But if he seemed to know the apartment so skillfully, and walked in with nothing but ease, Newt was sure he had to be a friend of Thomas’s. Especially since when the blonde had shown up at Thomas’s workplace, they seemed friendly and chatted effortlessly, meanwhile Newt struggled to even greet him properly. Earth was a strange place, no doubt about it. Even though he was still struggling to learn their ways of doing certain things, the handle was getting more comfortable with the passing time. 

“So, what have you been doing all day?” Minho asked, looking a bit awkward in his sad attempts to make conversation. He wasn’t keen on sitting in the awkward silence, being such a social person. But whoever this kid was to Thomas, the whole situation was nothing short of utterly strange. How he’d suddenly appeared out of nowhere was the thing that stuck out most, nobody having ever heard of this kid (even though he was Thomas’s best friend mind you!) was just plain alarming. Yet, Newt pointed to the TV and innocently smiled. Minho did an expression that either looked like a smile or a gasp, and started to laugh. 

“YOU’VE BEEN WATCHING A DANCE MOMS MARATHON ALL DAY?” Minho gasped for air as he began laughing, hands on his knees while hunched over with giggles. Confused, Newt tilted his head to the side, he didn’t know that people also called a show “Dance Moms”, what did that even mean? While Thomas’s friend choked for breaths over his harsh laughs, Newt furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. If it was mom’s dancing in the show, wouldn’t that mean it should be called ‘Mom’s Dancing’? Despite having learned the range of vast languages back on his home planet, and being an avid learner, Newt found himself stumped yet again. Nothing here made any sense! Some things were easy to learn- like the basic do's and don’ts. When it came to their language though, he was inevitably confused. But hopefully knowing two people now, he would be able to learn much quicker? 

“Y-Yes?” Newt asked hesitantly, unsure of why Minho was laughing so hard. The blond pulled Tommy’s sweatshirt closer around his thin form and slightly let his shoulders droop in embarrassment. His cheeks felt warm and his brain felt fuzzy like it was full of completely nothing. Thomas had never laughed at him when he did something wrong (save for a few scoldings though) and he always did his best to help Newt correct his mistakes! Now, having somebody actually laughing at him for being so stupid, Newt found himself wanting to curl up from the pure humiliation. He wanted Tommy! Thomas always agreed to help him, and knew what to say to make him feel better every single time! 

“Oh man, I have a lot to teach you,” Minho giggled as he walked to the glass coffee table in the living room, picking up a plastic box with buttons on it. When he started to press the buttons the TV screen changed to show different people and stories. When Newt looked confused, Minho found himself explaining that TV’s had “channels” with different shows on them. Even though he had slightly tuned out and not quite understood, Newt nodded, but Minho wasn’t so sure judging off of the way that he stared at the TV, like it had arms growing out of it. After showing Newt more about TV’s, despite the blond’s obvious disinterest, he dragged Newt into the kitchen to explain how to combine different foods to make better foods, but stopped when he came across some bottles in the fridge. Minho took them out and turned to Newt with an excited smile on his face

“Has Thomas ever told you what a beer was?” Minho asked, smirking with a spark of mischievousness evident in his dark eyes. So this kid had never even gotten wasted before? God, this was going to be fucking hilarious. This opportunity was too good to pass up, as somebody were offering him a bunch of gold. Newbie’s getting drunk for the first time was something Minho loved seeing, to put it frankly. But then again, who didn’t? The outcome usually turned out nothing but funny, watching them stumble around or slowly spill their darkest secrets without even knowing that they did so. Desires winning the best of him, Minho waited for Newt’s response with butterflies in his stomach and his heart racing in his chest. Sure enough Thomas would probably kill him, but at least this would be a hundred percent worth the outcome! Even though Minho’s attitude scared him slightly, Newt shook his head and Minho opened the bottles with the biggest grin on his face. 

“Now this is gonna be fun,” Minho grumbled as he turned around to search for mugs. It only took a few moments, seeing as he knew Thomas’s apartment like the back of his hand, having the best friend status and all that. When he retrieved the mugs, he filled both of them up to the brim with the crimson liquid. Sure, Thomas would be mad. But then again, seeing the Greenie drunk off of his ass would surely be a sight. The kid was cute and all, so of course he didn’t seem like he could handle more than a shot of this stuff, which would make it all the more exciting. Turning to Newt again and handing him the cup with a small smile, he decided that he might as well try to get the guy to explain everything that was going on, taking the fact the alcohol would loosen him up into play. 

Before he could even open his mouth, Newt was staring at the mug in his hand with a pout and whining for Thomas. He knew this kid was almost attached to his best friend by the hip, but seriously what was his deal? The blondie literally wouldn’t do much besides answer questions with yes or no, or be whining for Thomas. Newt seemed so set on him, so attracted to him, maybe even in love with him at that? Well, if somebody told him that Thomas and Newt were together, it wouldn’t even come as a surprise. After years of dating both of his girlfriends, Thomas wouldn’t even let them spend the night in the apartment. But now all of a sudden this guy shows up out of the blue and is allowed to do everything two girls couldn’t after dating him for years? Minho didn’t buy it one bit. He had assumed it was just an old friend at first, and that’s what he had been told. That Newt was an old friend visiting from France, but his lack of social and just skills in general told him otherwise. Of course people in other countries had their way of doing things differently, but this kid didn’t seem like he had been from France (much less this planet at that).

“What is with you and Tomboy?” Minho questioned while raising the blue cup to his lips and taking a small sip before cocking an eyebrow at Newt. It was heavily suspicious that a grown man (as much as he looked like a kid) had to be looked after while Thomas stepped out for the night. But with that, Thomas had been gone for the whole day, and it seemed that this man didn’t know how to take care of himself whatsoever. So Minho did understand why Thomas wanted him to look after Newt, but not how Newt had made it this far without simple life skills. There was always the factor that maybe his parents were complete control freaks and forced their son to be a total shut in, but he should be able to communicate with others at least! 

Newt stared blankly before raising the mug to his lips and trying the crimson liquid before his face contorted into a grimace. The blond drew back slightly from the cup and stared at it as if it were the devil himself coming to claim his soul before he set the mug down gently on the counter, attempting to be subtle about it. Then, he looked up and bit his lip while thinking about what he should say next, working it out in his head prior to attempting to put it into words. “To-Tommy!” He giggled delightfully with a smile and nodded then tilted his head to the side. “He is uh… T-Tommy is...b-boy..friend?” 

“I knew it!” The Asian exclaimed while slamming his hands dramatically on the counter with a grin on his face, which caused Newt to jump at the sudden noise with a small yelp. After a moment though, he smiled shyly at Minho and nodded in agreement, wrapping his arms around himself as he childishly rocked back and forth on his heels. 

With another sip of his drink, Minho motioned to Newt’s mug that was still innocently resting on the counter. Feeling the slightest surge of panic, along with the peer pressure, Newt frowned. Nobody could know about his secret, what would happen if everybody found out where he was from? His home planet would ruthlessly banish him, since they did have a few close encounters with the Earthlings before. So not wanting to make Minho suspicious, Newt chose the worst option (that was probably worse than telling Minho about his home planet before being executed) and just took a swig. 

* * *  
Drunken giggles filled the air as the glass almost instantly refilled itself, Minho was curled up on the couch next to Newt, and placed his mug down before simply grabbing the entire bottle to sip from. Newt smiled shyly, unsure of why Minho was so giddy at the moment. The blond had only had a cup of the crimson liquid, then finally let himself stop drinking. The taste was quite bitter, unlike the very neutral food of his hometown, and the new flavor stung his tastebuds to no end. It tasted disastrous, which is why Newt was so unsure how Minho could drink nearly the whole entire bottle with one swallow. It was as if his stomach was an infinite pit, never having just enough to satisfy him. Humans were definitely something. 

A single knock broke the loud giggles that had become a song to Newt’s understanding ears, which is why his first thought jumped to that of the beautiful brunet. The most excited grin formed on his face, as he shakily arose from his spot on the couch, turning to look at Minho who hadn’t even noticed his movement yet. Assuming then that it was alright to check the door, Newt hurried over to it, having to balance himself several times before he finally made it to the doorframe without falling. The door swung open so fast, Newt almost pounced on who he had believed to be Thomas with a squeal of the brunet’s name before he utterly froze, rooted to the spot.

“A-Aris?”

His brother? Here?! Why out of the whole entire galaxy, would Aris follow him back to here?! Aris hated Earth more than anything in the universe! Naturally, he looked pretty pissed off about Newt being here. His arms were folded neatly across his chest over his purple shirt with the dark black symbol of a maze painted over it, his planet, Glade’s symbol. Sandy blonde hair covered his face slightly, and his deep brown eyes held anger, yet it wasn’t as intense as the first time that Aris had returned home from Earth. A hug was something Newt certainly wasn’t expecting, which is why when Aris pulled him into a firm embrace, Newt yelped quietly before his shoulders relaxed and he hugged his brother back warmly.

“A-Aris!” Newt exclaimed again, his expression turning into one of worry as he pondered all the possible reasons that Aris had arrived back to Earth. Surely there had to be something wrong, since Aris would never visit Earth again after the incident, even if you had paid him to! The questions raced through his mind faster than he could even comprehend all of them and think. His thoughts were always unfinished, jumping from one conclusion to the next as he visibly stiffened. The blond was completely paralyzed with fear, as if someone had tied him to the bottom of an endless ocean, weighing him down with all of the questions and possible outcomes. 

It only took mere seconds to notice that Newt had completely fallen into a state of distress, and Aris acted fast, grabbing his brother’s arm once again before pulling him into the familiar embrace. “Come on, little brother. Let’s go for a walk.” He mumbled soothingly in their native language, causing the longing for home to wash over Newt in powerful waves. But all he could do was nod dumbly, still numb while he clung onto his brother in a total shock and disbelief. The older brother held his hand tightly, mumbling in their native language words of tranquility as the two made their way out of the house and quietly down the street.

Once they had gotten into the woods, Newt found himself in control of his actions and thought process again. He had calmed down enough to be able to regain control, but still took a few deep breaths as a necessary precaution. The moonlight illuminated his pale skin, golden hair shimmering brightly in the darkness while he turned to Aris who also had a faint glowing aura surrounding him as well. The wiser brother held a grim expression on his face, while the younger held one of concern. The question didn’t even need to be said to be known of its presence. Why was Aris on Earth?

“Brother, Glade is fine, everyone is alright but…” Aris mumbled as his head slightly bowed, suddenly finding an interest in playing with his hands. The tension was thick enough to cut with a knife, and Newt found himself on edge with every passing second. His throat was dry as well as scratchy, but all he wanted to do was yell at Aris just to spit it out. Hands growing clammy, heart pounding all the way up in his neck as if it were about to burst out, and feeling completely numb, Newt shook from the terror that was climbing up his back.

“Prince Gally says you have to come home.”

Then the fear consumed him whole.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, now we're gettin' into it. Hope ya enjoyed and thank you for readin'!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now we're actually getting on with it! This should be where everything gets explained, for the most part.

“No!” Was the only way Newt found himself able to react as the anger started to seethe and writhe within him, heating up his skin like a furnace while he glared daggers at his brother who had caused him to go into a panic mere seconds ago, and was now bossing him around like it was no trouble? He was nothing short of rageful, wrath consuming control of him as he sneered at the brother who he had held such concern for formally. “H-How dare you! You come back and send me into a bloody fit all because Prince Gally has had a stick up his ass ever since you were so stupid to get caught down here?!” Newt seethed, his hands bawling into fists. There was a loud cracking sound, as if a lightning bolt had struck the earth below them as it shifted ever so slightly, before a tree came crashing down with a boom equivalent to that of an explosion. 

“Newt, calm down, you know not to use your powers when your angr-” Aris began as he tried to step closer to his little brother who was practically radiating heat off of his reddened skin. Yet, the older had learned that the hard way, and tried to take his powers very seriously. Having a hothead as a younger kid, he had become the source of so much pain, that he tried his best to get a grip as the years passed by. But at times like this, that became an impossible task to handle. 

The blond screamed in frustration, cutting Aris off as another loud boom shook the Earth. “Oh yes! Brother knows best now doesn’t he?! Says the one that was dumb enough to destroy a whole fucking town because he couldn’t control himself or his bloody pride! Says the one who got himself caught and held hostage to these Earthlings because he’s a fucking idiot! Says the one who can’t even stand up to Gally and defend his own little brother! There was a reason that I left, and it’s because I hate Glade!” 

It seemed as if time completely stopped, and Newt couldn’t have seen Aris’s rage more clearly, as if somebody had held up a poster reading, ‘your brother is going to lose his shit now.’ So Newt put on the bravest face he could forge at the moment and stood his ground as the trees around him violently burst into flame. Red consumed his vision and smoke clouded his lungs, stinging his eyes while sucking out all of the air from his body. Everything hurt, as if he had been beaten all over with a baseball bat, and when he ran it felt like his limbs were trying to move through maple syrup. Stumbling over to a tree then launching himself behind it, Newt coughed and choked, inhaling frantically while he heard his brother’s footsteps approaching. But this wasn’t over yet. The tree fell once again to the ground, this time leaving a loud ringing in Newt’s scorching ears, yet he was still able to hear Aris’s shriek of surprise. 

In mid-fall, the tree seemed to burst into bright flames, looking like a giant flare and having no place within the darkness of the forest at such an hour. The blond stumbled to his feet yet again, as he winced, staring at his brothers form. Never in his life had he actually felt so afraid, even when he had fought with the Prince and with Aris. Even when they banished him, he refused to be afraid, he refused to let fear take control. But now, he had never felt so helpless as he did at this moment. Aris was faster, stronger, and more skilled than he could ever be with his powers. How was he going to escape this time? 

* * *

The date flew by, mainly because Thomas was struggling to stay awake or even process anything that Teresa was telling him. A few points during the date she seemed to notice and made a show of smiling cutely at him or grabbing at his hand. It almost appeared as if she was on some constant reality show, always posing for some sort of invisible camera. The want for attention seemed to be greater than anything else, and even though Thomas didn’t particularly like Teresa in any way, shape or form. She didn’t appear to even want him either. The whole entire time he was confused, silently questioning why she even bothered to make such a fuss over getting him back when she didn’t seem to care whatsoever. 

Maybe she enjoyed people seeing her like that? People seeing her with a handsome guy, even if he didn’t seem to be into what was happening. Thomas did consider himself decently attractive, and had been told on multiple occasions that Teresa and him were quite the couple. So maybe it was all for show? After all, she did make it seem that way, so it certainly wouldn’t come as much surprise to him. It was like taking a picture. Every time you do it, you put your best angle forward so that it seems like your life is more exciting, better, and interesting than it actually is. That's probably all he was to her. Just another toy on her side to make her look even better. Not that she was much more than that either. Teresa was just another reminder of his stubbornness to actually let his thoughts control him. 

When he got home, it felt like the weight of the world was off of his shoulders. Now he could just curl up in bed, with the exception of looking after Newt first. But the blond was hopefully in good hands with Minho, or so he had thought for now. The brunet walked down the dimly lit street with his dark eyes trained on the floor, hands in his pockets before he looked up at his apartment complex. It wasn’t caught on fire, or blown to pieces yet so he assumed nothing could have gone too horribly with Minho as a babysitter. Thomas ran his hands through his hair while pulling his key out of his back pocket to unlock the front door. It was eerily silent as he pushed the door open, which instantly put the brunet on edge as he closed the door quickly behind him without bothering to take off his shoes. Something was off. Between Newt being rather annoyingly (yet adorably) questionable of everything, and Minho being the chatterbox he was. How could it be silent? 

As he hurriedly stumbled into the living room while calling for his friends, the brunet was greeted by the horrible stench of beer. God, he had only been gone for a few hours, how did Minho managed to consume all these beers himself? Surely Minho really could hold an impressive amount of drinks. But there were two mugs on the table, and hopefully Minho would be civil enough to only use one? That stupid bastard, creating even more work than it's worth just for a few drinks. Or maybe he wasn’t alone… His blood froze as he finally noticed his best friend curled up and alone on the couch. Where the fuck was Newt?! Thomas’s breath got caught in his throat as he ran forward and tackled his friend, shaking him while yelling as loud as he could. God, what the hell had he done?! Newt was his responsibility, and he was such a gullible idiot thinking that he could actually handle himself! He barely even knew how to work a television! 

Minho blinked sleepily, a smile gracing his lips as he drunkenly giggled out a hello to Thomas. His arms reached out to try and grab at his best friend, which slowly wrapped around Thomas’s shoulder in an attempt to weakly pull him closer. A groan soon followed, at the realization of the pain stinging his forehead and the horrible pounding of his heart becoming almost a million times louder. Everything hurt, especially his head which wasn’t a foreign feeling to him. But with a little smirk on his lips, he tilted his head back with a yawn as Thomas continued to scream and sputter frantically at him. 

“Relax.” Minho giggled as he pushed Thomas’s face away playfully, yawning and grimacing after he moved his head just the slightest bit. It would be a long time before he actually drank again after this, god his fucking head was killing him. Granted that was what he said after every single time he got drunk, but this time he really meant it! (Not) Thomas’s words all drowned together into one long buzzing sound as he watched the brunet hover above him, face contorting from expressions ranging from angry, confused and worried. It made him laugh slightly, watching with the most dazed expression that he had ever had, maybe even more than when some girl snogged him under the bleachers for the first time in the sixth grade. 

When the realization that Minho would be absolutely no help in his drunken induced state, the brunet shook his head and managed a strict grimace. He pulled the covers back over his shitfaced friend, that sadly happened to be somebody that he truly cared for, lame enough to say. It wasn’t a foreign concept to Thomas, taking care of Minho. It was never mentioned because the brunet was kind enough to let his friend keep his excessive ego. But to others it probably appeared that almost every single time Minho got drunk, Thomas was his go-to caretaker. 

It seemed like Thomas may have taken it upon himself to be almost everybody’s nanny. He worked hard, took extra shifts when they were available, nursed friends and acquaintances alike out of headaches or heartbreaks, all while supporting another human being who could barely even comprehend half the things that he said. Some may call him a saint, and others may call him stupid, though Thomas could never stop himself from being so supportive. It was in his blood and mindset since he was born. 

Within seconds of the blanket grazing his flesh, Minho was already down and out like a light with the flick of a switch. That only helped the brunet as he rushed back towards the door, closing it quietly yet swiftly behind him. The blond couldn’t have gotten far by himself out in the cold, and hopefully he went to the coffee shop looking for him? But then, wouldn’t Thomas have passed him along the way home? So where else would Newt have gone in search of him? Thomas couldn’t help the worry that was already plaguing his brain and working fast down to his legs as he ran, making them numb. Newt had to be okay, despite not knowing how to communicate, take care of himself or where he even was, he had to be alright, otherwise Thomas didn’t know what he would do.

* * *  
The small crackling of flames was the only sound audible over the deafening silence that consumed the whole entire forest. Both brothers were panting, one appearing more visibly battered than the other, while the other one was mentally shaken. It took a moment before one finally broke the tense silence and began to speak. Aris was cleaning up the small amounts of blood dribbling down his nose and chin, while Newt was holding his wounded leg tight to his chest as he held back small sniffles. The illumination of the fire against his pale skin gave it an orange tint, similar to the blue one they bore at home. The older’s dirty blonde hair was smouldering at the tips, turning to a gradient black while smoke poured from the ends. His eyes held the most pure form of wrath, tinted a deep burgundy. While the younger’s were a soft, intelligent purple. 

“Brother. I’m not going back. I hate Glade, and you know I’ve always hated it.” Newt started quietly before his gaze dropped to the floor slowly. In Glade, he did have many friends, yes. But Aris was his only family, which meant they had nobody to financially support them. Back in Glade, when you didn’t have any parents or family to take care of you, you became the dogs of the corporation WCKD. The test subjects, lab rats, whatever term fits. Prince Gally didn’t have time to spare on society’s issues with the amount of wars going on in nearby galaxies, along with the fact they were the most intellectually superior planet, and intended to stay that way. The blond didn’t exactly blame the Prince per-say, but that didn’t excuse his actions whatsoever. Aris and him (along with quite a few unfortunate others) were taken by WCKD, who sent them on missions across the galaxy as intergalactic spies. They were expected to live on planets with life for awhile, blend in, and report back to WCKD on their progresses. No other life forms had even come close to the accomplishments of Glade. 

Earthlings could be smart, and Newt would have to give them that. They had underestimated how intelligent these beings were by a long shot, when Aris had arrived for his mission on Earth. Of course, this caused the older brother to become rather reckless. Which ended up in his easily avoidable capture, that had shaken Newt from light years away. His older brother had been caught, strung up like some sort of rag doll, and poked or prodded as if he were a ticking time bomb. One couldn’t even comprehend the amount of rage that overwhelmed Newt when WCKD had told him the news. He remembered feeling like he was on fire, feeling like he was going to die at any given moment without warning, as if somebody had found the most horrifying poison that burned you inside out and made your stomach melt. Then came the tears, almost enough to fill an empty river, and Newt wasn’t sure if he would ever cry again after that day. Aris was his only family. The only one that had taken care of him all those years. 

“You have to, Newt. Just come with me. The Earthlings are bad people, they’ll string you up and hurt you, just like they did to me! Gally never wanted anybody to come back here! You promised me!” Aris’s voice started out firm, but his voice gradually increased with each spoken word. It rang across the forest and into the cold night, sending a few crows squawking in annoyance before flying away. It was obvious at this point he was distressed, not wanting somebody he loved to suffer the same torture which he was forced to endure. Added onto the fact that visiting Earth had become illegal to the inhabitants of Glade, yet if anyone were to do it without the Prince’s permission, they would be exiled forever from Glade. Sadly though, that’s what Newt wanted after all these years. To get a new start on another planet and forget all the terrible years of being treated as an experiment. To finally find a family. 

With another shake of his head, Newt stepped backwards hesitantly. Leaving Glade had been the best day of his life. That was the day he had met Thomas! The day he had finally been free to make his own choices! The day where he had finally discovered his true potential! Screw what the humans had done to Aris! Screw Prince Gally and the others of WCKD! Earth had different rules from Glade, which was exactly the reason that he had set food on this planet in the first place! To get away from everything and everyone that he had ever had the displeasure of knowing back home. Even if Aris did care about him, wouldn’t he want him to be happy? 

Apparently not, seeing as how it only took seconds for Aris to lurch forward for him. His hands were balled into fists that set ablaze with the blink of an eye. The red, orange, yellow flames dancing in the most intricate pattern across his brothers fingers and leaving Newt’s mouth dry. His brain took control, involuntarily causing him to sidestep the male as fast as he could, almost sending himself to the ground with the weak process. Stumbling and regaining his footing, he raised his face so fast it almost gave him whiplash. His brother turned around to face Newt with the most agility, precision and grace that stunned the younger into a state similar to shock. The staring resumed, this time accompanied by both brothers walking steadily in a circle, analyzing the other while waiting for any sign of a striking point. Yet, it never came. Instead, the pair were interrupted by the smallest whisper that almost went unheard. 

“Newt…”

Thomas. Thomas was here. Thomas had come after him. Thomas was going to meet Aris. Everything seemed to fall apart before his glassy eyes as his brother turned to look at his good friend, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. The brunet seemed horribly out of place, staring at Newt with the most dumb, relieved smile on his face that would’ve made Newt positively squeal if they had been elsewhere. His friend took a step forwards towards him, then another, and then he was running. Warmth engulfed his lean figure that he hadn’t even realized was shaking to the core. The feeling of familiar, strong arms around him made him sign in relief, he just wanted to hug Thomas back and never get up ever again. As quickly as it had begun, it ended. Such a display of intimacy left his brother furious and fuming from his hair yet again. With the most apologetic smile he could manage, Newt pushed Thomas away and mumbled to him to go home. Obviously, the stubborn brunet shook his head and didn’t listen, like a little disobedient puppy. 

“Newt. Who is this?” Aris asked quietly as he folded his arms over his chest, stance tensing while his limbs stiffened heavily. His eyes were harsh, judgemental and threatening in every way, shape, or form. His brother had went back to speaking English, maybe to throw Thomas off? Newt couldn’t be certain, but it did seem to work as Thomas took a step backwards with his jaw hanging open in shock. 

“I’m Thomas.” The brunet cut him off before the blond even had the chance to open his mouth, leaving him blinking dumbly like an utter idiot. “I’ve been taking care of Newt these past few days. Who are you?” His voice raised slightly to a sort of protective tone, while Newt could notice Thomas shifting to stand in front of him ever so slightly. It would’ve made him grin happily, if not for such an awkward, tense atmosphere. The blond raised an eyebrow at Aris, wondering what he was planning to say or do next. Even though he wasn’t sure if Aris being rather skilled in English was a good or a bad thing. If he twisted their story around, Newt wouldn’t know how to correct it and wasn’t even sure if he’d know first of all! But if Aris told the correct story, and completely exposed what he truly was to Thomas, would Thomas hate him? Hopefully not. 

“I’m his brother. I’m here to take him back.” Then that’s when all hell broke loose. Thomas shook his head and said something that Newt couldn’t even hear, being too uncomfortable with the whole situation and zoning out too much. Everything sounded the same, a long continuous ringing melody that he just couldn’t shake from his head. His knees buckled under him and shook uncontrollably, feeling like pure jelly. Cold sweat broke out on his forehead, running down his back and making him shiver. It felt like he was going to fall over, the world spinning around him and making him feel completely sick. His hands began to shake, and Newt tried to blink all of the dizziness away. Of course, to no avail. Everything hurt and he couldn’t focus on what was happening. Thomas was now fighting with Aris, who in a split second raised his hand towards them in a silent threat. When neither of them reacted, fire sputtered from Aris’s fingers, and both of them somehow got out of the way right in time. It was very strange, seeing how Thomas was more capable of handling the situation than Newt himself, who had experienced much worse than this before. 

The brunet and the blond were sent stumbling over to the street out of the forest, Thomas pulling Newt behind him. The street lights burned brighter than it seemed possible, Newt’s brain working into overdrive and sending objects moving purely out of confusion. Powers worked when you wanted them too, and also when you didn’t. A surge of strong emotions, whether it be happiness, sadness, pain or confusion, can trigger your power. From a young age, Newt learned how to control his powers fairly well, unlike his older brother. Glade was very strict on use of powers, and it was prohibited unless absolutely necessary (self defense, to help someone else in need, or anything similar.) But they did have special training programs for people who needed to learn more self control, which Aris would take during their stay at WCKD. 

The street lights completely exploded around them, glass pounding down like hail onto their shoulders. Next came the lights, smashing into the Earth and leaving huge cracks into the pavement. The ground around them shifted, vibrating with the force of the crash and causing Newt to stumble slightly, almost letting go of Thomas’ hand. He could hear Thomas’s breath hitch in fear as he continued to sprint towards his house. It was obvious at this point that Aris was following them, hearing the sound of the roaring fire surrounding them helplessly. The fear was consuming him, thinking that the one person who had finally took him in without knowing his past, without knowing his struggles, and without feeling pity for him. Everybody took him in because they had to, because they felt bad or because they had no other choice. Thomas was the first one to accept him without even having a sliver of an idea who he was or where he was from. 

Pulling the key out of his jacket pocket, Thomas seemed to struggle with the door for a moment before finally unlocking it and throwing it open so hard it slammed against the wall. The brunet ran farther into the confines of the house, while Newt worked to barricade the door. Using his powers, he quickly forced the closest nearby items in front of the door to keep it forced shut. The dishwasher and dining table flew across the room, creating an awful scraping sound for a split second before it was followed by a crash as they piled on top of each other in front of the door. Satisfied with how much time that would give the two of them, the blond ran over to go help Thomas pull a drunken Minho off of the couch. The Asian was giggling softly as he leaned against Thomas’s shoulder, grabbing onto both of the two in order to keep himself upright. As the three of them made their way over to the front door in vain, they noticed that the front porch was bathed in flames. 

Curses left Thomas’s mouth like a hose spilling water. They made the fasted U-Turn possible with Minho’s condition, who at the moment was passed out and drooling on Thomas’s shoulder. Thick smoke was starting to slowly fill the house by the time they made it back to the living room. The Asian began to cough softly, his face contorting into a confused face while he blinked dazedly, obviously not understanding where the smoke was coming from. The brunet grit his teeth together, wrapping his arms around Minho’s chest and slung him over his shoulder as if he were just a sack of flower. Somehow, in any other situation Newt didn’t think that Thomas would’ve been able to carry his best friend, but now with the adrenaline pumping through their veins, Thomas seemed to not mind the pain. When they made it to the back door, Newt forcefully kicked it open and gestured for Thomas to hurry up so he could exit first, since he did have Minho with him. All of them had barely made it out the door when the house exploded in flames, sending them to the ground, panting hard and coughing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope ya enjoyed readin' and all that stuff! Thanks for tunin' in and hope to see you next Friday!


	6. Chapter 6

The blond sat up in the belt with a jolt, heart pounding hard against his chest. It took a few deep breaths before Newt could finally let his hands go slack under him, and collapse back onto the bed with a small sigh. It was just another nightmare, nothing to actually be afraid of. Closing his eyes, he let his eyes adjust to the darkness, and tried to calm his heartbeat. After a moment to gather his thoughts, Newt opened his eyes once more, squinting at the light that was shining in through the curtains. He curled up and shivered, seeing that Thomas made his bed that was across the room from Newt’s, leaving him alone another day. Newt was used to this, being that it happened pretty much every morning.

That dreadful night, where the two of them had been ruthlessly attacked by Aris still gave him shivers whenever he thought about it. Thomas hasn’t been the same since that night. He had never once left Newt alone longer than his work schedule, and didn’t go anywhere unless it was to or from work. But at the same time, that was quite understandable seeing as Thomas’s new hours (as something called an architect) ranged from six in the morning to six at night, and he would always come home sluggish, to which Newt would just greet him with, “Welcome home, Tommy!”. His only off days were Saturday and Sunday, which was mainly their bonding days. Since the move, Thomas had begun to show Newt around more than he had ever wished to see! They had done the most amazing things! Gone to a wonderful place where the sun shone, the sand tickled his feet, the taste of salt on his tongue and an gaping ocean so far it reached beyond the horizon. Newt’s favorite place was the large theater though, where Thomas would offer to buy him all sorts of delicious food, then lead him into a dark room to which they would hear the most beautiful heart-wrenching tale of a princess or a prince fighting a dragon. 

Newt had been practicing (well, if practicing meant staring around the room aimlessly, then he was totally practicing) the list of spelling words he was supposed to learn that Tommy had given to him. Seeing a small squirrel running around outside, he got distracted once more before the sound of a door being open jarred him out of his thoughts. The blond pouted as the squirrel darted across the lawn and out of sight, then he sighed, proceeding to stand up. Once on his feet, he gingerly sat down with the list of spelling words on his bed as the door slowly opened from behind. 

The brunet groaned dramatically, sluggishly dragging his feet from under him while trudging over to the bed and flopping onto it like a fish out of water. With the corners of his lips pulling upwards, Newt giggled at Thomas, clearly amused by the behavior of the older one. Shooting a playful and lighthearted glare, Thomas stretched his sore limbs out before he curled into a ball, grabbing at the blankets to roughly tug them over himself. The brunet’s stomach growled loudly to break the calm silence, and Newt was launched into another fit of giggles. This wasn’t foreign behavior, since Thomas was always exhausted when he came home, and usually didn’t have any time to eat prior to his arrival. Once Newt had actually tried to cook him something as an attempt of affection, but it ended with the whole “fire-department at their door and a rather embarrassed brunet having to leave work early” situation. Though, that was another story for another time. 

“Tommy!” Newt suddenly exclaimed with a small smile, one that could completely light up the world and all its surroundings. The blond curiously peeked over at him, drawing closer to the bed with his fingers reached out towards the other. When his fingertips touched the other’s side, it stroked the area gently for a moment before tickling it. As if burned, Thomas jerked back with a loud squeal piercing the air. His hands automatically jumped up to his sides to cover his chest, waiting for another attack. But only a few chuckles came in response, while Newt just simply beamed down at his friend with a nod. Legs curled around the blankets, head nuzzling gently into the pillow while Thomas fell prey to sleep once more. 

“Mmmn, lemme sleep, Newt.” The brunet grunted. His limbs felt like they weighed ten times more than usual, as if every inch of him had been dumped in cement. The move hadn’t been too rough on him, and Thomas had actually been glad to be able to move into a bigger house. The move had also given him a chance to put his engineering degree to use. After graduating college, he found out that no job offers in the area offered anything for architecture, all of them having been stolen away while he was at school. This finally allowed him to do what he wanted to do all his life, even if it placed an unimaginable stress onto his shoulders. Newt did help more than he had ever expected though, making him laugh and sometimes forget about his duties. Yet, it wasn’t always enough. Teresa still bugged him for more dates, but Thomas didn’t dare leave Newt alone with Minho again (even though he had wholeheartedly forgiven his best friend, he didn’t have enough money for a new house at the moment.) Well, not that Thomas really wanted to go on another date with Teresa, nevertheless. 

“Tommy! Tommy! Can we go eat? I wan’ ice cream!” Newt whined as he appeared over the side of the bed again, latching onto Thomas’s arm like a leach and tugging on it gently. When Thomas nodded and grunted, rolling over onto his side once more before mumbling to get ready, Newt positively squealed. A chorus of thanks left his lips as the blond dashed from the room and out of sight. It was hard sometimes to remember how utterly unhuman Newt was, with the fact that he acted like an innocent little kid. They did have a brief conversation that night, finally acknowledging where Newt was from, his family, as well as future problems. But with how shaken the blond had been after the incident, Thomas didn’t have the heart to bring it up once more incase it sent him into another fit of tears. 

Obviously, their issue wouldn’t vanish that easily. Aris was going to come back, possibly with Prince Gally this time, or more others. But all they could do was move houses, nothing more or nothing less. Thomas didn’t have enough money to move cross country, to cover his tracks, or to simply disappear. Yet, even if he did, they would be found anyways. As far as Newt had informed him, Glade was much more advanced than Earth. So despite their efforts, they would’ve been exposed no matter any decision they made. Thomas didn’t feel like wasting all of his money, just to be found again, and Newt knew they both had to face it someday. Better to just pretend everything was okay for awhile, while making themselves happy in the process instead of living a fake life. 

With his head pounding gently, Thomas rose from the bed similar to how the undead might, dragging his limbs slowly behind himself as he slugged towards the bathroom. The cabinet squealed loudly as it swung open. The brunet pulled out a few pills to solve his headache, turning on the tap and filling his palm with water. The pills had barely reached his stomach when Newt came stumbling into the bathroom, whining. Sometimes, he really did remind Thomas of a little kid. With the way something as small as ice cream could spiral him into one of his best moods. His shoes and coat were barely on his tall figure before Newt rushed him out the door, the cutest little grin upon his pale face. The younger barked out a laugh with the older hurrying him down the street, holding his hand in a grip that Thomas didn’t even think the small blond was capable of. 

A grin was spread ear to ear on Newt’s face while the sun hit his halo of blond hair upon his head, making his age seem to melt away. The baggy clothes only seemed to add to the effect (and Thomas found it strange considering Newt had his own clothes at this point, yet he continued to steal Thomas’s things.) It was only when he started speaking, tugging on Thomas’s coat sleeve lightly that the brunet blinked and realized he had completely zoned out. Cocking his head in a silent question, an earful of giggles was his immediate response. “What kinda ice cream do ya want, Tommy?” Newt asked him quietly, smile permanent upon his face while he continued to clutch Thomas’s coat sleeve. 

“Oh, I dunno. I don’t really want any.” Thomas shrugged, giving Newt a sheepish smile before lazily scratching the back of his neck. A pout formed, but did not claim territory, fast fading from the blond’s lips. “W-We can share!” A simple statement that made Thomas’s heart flutter and soar all the same. It almost made the brunet feel like a proud lover, watching Newt turn to the guy behind the counter with that same goddamn adorable smile on his face while he asked for chocolate ice cream. When the blond was handed the ice cream, he squealed, shooting a look of excitement towards Thomas, who leaned over the counter to hand the money to the cashier. 

“Thank you.” The brunet said kindly, gently handing the money into the open palm that was waiting for him. The cashier seemed very put off by Newt’s childish demeanor, scrunching up his nose at the two. “Excuse me, uh, may I ask how old your friend is?” They quietly spoke up, shooting a very concerned look towards the oblivious Newt. The brunet seemed confused, eyebrows furrowing. Should he be offended? Alarmed? Well, the fact that somebody showed concern for them both hanging out together probably should be a warning sign. But Thomas found himself more annoyed by this, Newt was dragging him around as if he were a puppy. Why would somebody be alarmed with two people so comfortable in the company of the other?

“Um, alright. He’s twenty four? I’m twenty two, if that helps?” The brunet shrugged while Newt continued to look back and forth between the two, confusion dancing across his features. When the person behind the counter raised an eyebrow apparently not seeming to believe Thomas’s words, Newt appeared to read his mind. Hands wrapped around his torso, pulling him closer and the soft tingle of hair tickled against his neck. A small chuckle vibrated against Thomas’s chest giving the brunet enough confidence to bid the person behind the counter a good day. Turning on his heel, he slung his arm around Newt’s shoulders comfortably. Instantly, the blond leaned into the touch with a smile appearing on his face, bringing the spoon of chocolate ice cream to his lips while they walked out of the store. 

“Tommy? Do ya want some?” Newt questioned when they drew farther away from the store, now standing on the walkway towards the park. Not even waiting for a response, the spoon was lifted to his lips and Thomas just shrugged, parting his lips to eat the ice cream. “Thanks, Newt. Where do you want to go now? We could go to the movies, the park, or anywhere else?” 

The blond seemed ecstatic when the movies was mentioned and instantly slid his hand back into Thomas’s, now having finished the ice cream then tossing it. “I saw this one movie on TV about a giant maze, I think it’s called, it looks exciting!” Newt smiled, turning to Thomas. “The Maze Runner? I mean, I guess we could see that one,” Thomas shrugged, not really caring about which movie they saw, anything to make Newt happy. Though, this movie seemed to be the best option out of all of them, so he was glad that Newt had picked this one over a cheesy horror or another princess flick.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this was a bit shorter than usual! But the next one should be longer! ^^


End file.
